Macclesfield Canal

Finally, five gentlemen from Macclesfield placed an advertisement in the Courier newspaper on 18 September 1824, which resulted in the Mayor calling a public meeting on 22 September. At the meeting, held at the Macclesfield Arms, the canal was proposed and a committee formed, consisting of the Mayor and the five gentlemen. They would attempt to gain the cooperation of any owners of land through which the canal would pass, and would invite the towns of Congleton and Stockport to join them in the venture. Unlike earlier canals, the spectre of the arrival of the railways was already in sight, and at least one present at the first meeting suggested that a railway might be built. After some debate, it was decided to open subscriptions for a canal, but to consider the possibility of a railway, and some £100,000 was pledged.[22]

The engineer Thomas Telford was employed to survey the route, and proposed a canal from Marple on the Peak Forest Canal, which would be level to beyond Macclesfield, and would then descend by a series of locks to the level of the Trent and Mersey Canal summit. It would pass close to Congleton, and would join the Trent and Mersey near Harecastle Tunnel. He stated that an adequate water supply could easily be obtained, and discounted a branch to Stockport, which would have involved a descent of 270 feet (82 m), as the town was already served by the Ashton Canal and the Peak Forest Canal. He considered five possible sites for the location of reservoirs to supply the canal.[22] By the time the canal gained its Act of Parliament on 11 April 1826, the estimated cost of construction, to be funded by shareholders, was put at £295,000. The authorised share capital was £300,000, and the company had powers to borrow a further £100,000.[25]

Macclesfield Canal
Marple Locks (16) Marple Junction Peak Forest Canal 11  A6  Buxton Road Bridge Club moorings High Lane Arm Railway aqueduct Bollington Aqueduct Bollington Grimshaw Lane Aqueduct Dry dock 37  A537  Buxton Road Bridge Macclesfield Gurnett Aqueduct 45  A523  Leek New Road Bridge Sutton Reservoir Services Bosley Reservoir 1-5 Bosley Locks (5) 55  A54  Peckerpool Wood Bridge 6-11 Bosley Locks (6) Churnet Valley Line 12 Bosley Locks (1) River Dane aqueduct Railway bridge 61  A54  Congleton Bridge 68  A54  Buxton Road bridge Railway bridge 75  A527  Biddulph Road Railway bridge} Congleton Dog Lane aqueduct Watery Lane aqueduct Hall Green stop lock  A50  Red Bull aqueduct Poole Aqueduct Lock 42 (Poole Lock) Kidsgrove Lock 41 Hardings Wood Junction Trent and Mersey Canal (to Stoke)

Having conducted the survey and steered the bill through Parliament, Telford does not appear to have been involved in the construction of the canal. Tenders received for the work varied wildly in price, and he chose those that he thought best, as well as contributing £1000, but after that, the civil engineering was managed by William Crosley, a job which he carried out to a high standard. He had previously been working on the northern end of the Lancaster Canal, but resigned from that post to work on the Macclesfield Canal.[26] Construction of the canal began at Bollington on 4 December 1826, with a ceremonial cutting of the first sod.[25] The northern section from Bosley Locks to Marple was awarded as five separate contracts, and work progressed steadily. The Trent and Mersey Canal had managed to get a clause inserted into the enabling Act that required them to build the final mile (1.6 km) of the canal where it joined theirs, and to charge tolls to those using it. By the time the committee met in 1828, much of the northern end of the canal was nearing completion, and contracts for the three sections from Bosley to the Trent and Mersey had been awarded. No work had started on the locks, as the contractor was busy opening a quarry on the nearby hill called Bosley Cloud, and building a railway to carry the quarried stone to the lock sites.[25]

Crosley reduced the number of reservoirs from five to two, and these were built at Bosley and Sutton. According to the Courier, the overall length of the canal had been reduced by some 2 miles (3.2 km) as a result of "the skillful management of Mr Crosley". There were problems with the Trent and Mersey length, with water seeping up and dislodging the puddle clay which made the canal watertight. This was eventually overcome by covering a short section with stone, to hold the clay in position. The committee made another inspection in June 1829, when good progress was reported on most fronts, although there were issues with the embankments at Bollington and Dane-in-Shaw, and with the aqueduct which carried the canal over the River Dane at Bosley. In the autumn of 1829, Telford also inspected the works. He highlighted a few minor problems, but was generally impressed by the quality of the workmanship. The annual meeting for 1830 was delayed, as King George IV had died, and his funeral was held on the day the meeting was scheduled. The aqueduct over the River Dane was completed on 23 October 1830, and contained 10,212 cubic feet (289 m³) of stone, with the main semi-circular arch spanning 42 feet (13 m).[25]

The committee were hoping that the canal would be completed by August 1831, but the opening was delayed, as the embankment at Dane-in-Shaw was still settling. They authorised the borrowing of £50,000 at a special meeting of shareholders held on 29 August 1831, to expedite the works. The formal opening took place on 9 November 1831, with ceremonial processions of boats from Congleton and Marple proceeding towards Macclesfield, meticulously timed so that boats would arrive at Macclesfield from both directions at the same time. Upon arrival, a salute was fired, and the Band of the Macclesfield Cavalry played God Save the King, before the proprietors and dignitaries retired to the Town Hall for dinner. A separate dinner was held at the Bulls Head Hotel for thirty of the contractors, while 500 workmen and 200 boatmen and drivers were each given half-a-crown (12.5p) to spend.[27]

The final cost of the canal was around £320,000, only £25,000 more than the original estimate. The summit level, above Bosley Locks, was constructed at an elevation of 518 feet (158 m), on a level with the Peak Forest Canal. At Bosley, twelve locks dropped the level to almost that of the Trent and Mersey,[28] but there is a stop lock at the junction with their Hall Green Branch, with a fall of just 1 foot (0.30 m), which ensured that the Trent and Mersey did not lose any water to the new canal.[2] When originally built, the chamber was very long, and both companies installed a set of lock gates, enabling them both to collect tolls. Each company built a cottage overlooking the locks, the Macclesfield Canal constructing theirs of stone, while the Trent and Mersey used brick. A long overflow above the locks channels surplus water to the Trent and Mersey Canal, as stipulated by the amendment to the 1827 Act. Only one set of gates is still in place, and this is the set that was originally the Macclesfield Canal lock.[29]

At the annual general meeting, held in July 1833, there was good news to report. Crosley had left the employment of the canal company on 24 June, but had produced a detailed report on the condition of the works before he left, in which he stated that there was no observable settlement in the embankments, the stonework of the locks, bridges and aqueducts was still good and showing no signs of failure, and the reservoir at Bosley had been filled to the top of several occasions, without any sign of leakage. Edward Stanley, the chairman of the management committee, reported that trade was brisk, and that 98,201.5 tons of cargo had been carried in the first full year of operation (March 1832-March 1833), generating an income of £6,117. Even a reduction in the rates being charged, to bring them in line with other canals, had not resulted in an appreciable fall in income. The company had built six wharfs, and was building a seventh at Bosley, four of which also had warehouses. In addition, ten houses had been built, for use by various members of staff, and offices had been constructed at Macclesfield. The company had bought the land for a second reservoir at Sutton and had already built the feeders to link it to the canal.[30]

By 1838, the canal company was looking to expansion, and sought to build a branch from Buglawton to Biddulph, to serve the coal mines. Initially proposed as a canal, and later as a railway, the plan was eventually dropped after it met with a less than enthusiastic reception from shareholders who were seeking a more substantial dividend, rather than re-investment of profits, and from the mine owners.[31] In the same year, the company joined forces with the Trent and Mersey, the Peak Forest and the Ashton Canal companies to successfully oppose plans to open a new canal from Middlewich to Altrincham.[32]

As with so many UK canals, the arrival of the railways led to the decline of the canal. By 1845, the spectre of railway competition was looming large, and the proposals for the Trent and Mersey Company to merge with a railway company were causing concern. It was discussed at the 1845 general meeting, as it seemed likely that such a move would be detrimental to the Macclesfield Canal.[6] They tried to cut costs by reducing the number of staff and lowering their wages, all the while reducing tolls in an attempt to retain traffic. They had ceased to pay dividends to the shareholders after a final payment of £1.50 in 1840.[33]

Despite this, they encouraged the use of stream boats, and in 1842 began running swift packet boats[33] carrying leisure traffic from Dukinfield Central railway station, close to Dukinfield Junction on the Peak Forest Canal to Disley, Lyme Park and Macclesfield at fares of 1-1½d per mile. Promotional material stated that "this line of conveyance is peculiarly adapted for pleasure parties, who may enjoy a delightful and healthy excursion on the Peak Forest Canal, and spend a day in the rural woods and pleasure grounds in the neighbourhood. The scenery is beautiful in the extreme, and cannot be equalled in any part of the country."[6] However, the service does not appear to have lasted beyond 1846.[33]

With proposals for the North Staffordshire Railway underway by 1845, the canal company threatened to build their own railway between the branch of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway at Macclesfield and Harecastle Tunnel, where it would meet the North Staffordshire Railway. The railway promoters immediately tried to gain the support of the Macclesfield Canal, by offering them shares, and requesting their assistance in promoting their Act of Parliament. The canal company suggested that the railway could lease the canal at £2 per share per year. The railway company responded with an alternative plan, which would see them buying the canal within five years for £2.50 per share, and paying off some of the canal's debts. This was rejected by the shareholders, who authorised the committee to negotiate with other railways, or to seek the required powers to build their own railway.[34]

By June 1846 the company had negotiated an alternative arrangement with the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway. Under the terms of this agreement, the railway company took out a perpetual lease of the canal at an annual rent of £6,605, which amounted to £2.50 per share, and was broadly equivalent to the dividend paid by the canal company prior to 1840. They also made a payment of £60,000, to cover all outstanding debts of the canal company.[6] A bill to authorise the takeover of both the Macclesfield Canal and the Peak Forest Canal was sought and obtained in late 1846. The final meeting of the canal company took place on 15 July 1847, although it remained as a legal entity until 1883, to manage the rents. The railway company began selling water from the canal as soon as it took over.[35]

At the time it took out its lease, the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway was itself at an advanced stage in negotiating a merger with other railway companies, and on 1 January 1847, ownership of the canal passed to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.[36] With an expectation that they would complete the construction of their London extension in 1899, the company changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897.[37] When most of the railways of Britain were amalgamated in 1922, under the provisions of the Railways Act 1921, known as "the grouping", the Great Central Railway and hence the canal passed into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).[38]

In 1848, the carriage of goods earned the company £9,049. The railway company began operating as a carrier soon afterwards, on a fairly small scale, and this continued until 1894, by which time most of the trade was in cotton. Trade in the return direction dwindled, to the point where the operation was uneconomic, and ceased. In 1905, boats using the canal carried coal, raw cotton, grain, which was supplied to textile and flour mills, and stone, but by this time traffic volumes were small.[35] On 29 February 1912, the canal burst its banks at Kerridge, flooding several nearby streets. The cause was the failure of a culvert that carried Tinkers Brook under the canal embankment, at about 1:00 am. By the time the bridges could be stopped with stop planks, most of the upper pound above Bosley locks had drained away. It took three weeks to repair the breach, and around 100 men were employed to fill the gap with 160 boat loads of clay puddle and other materials.[39]

Roving bridges on the Macclesfield Canal are known locally as Snake bridges.

Commercial carrying on the canal ended in 1954, when the carriage of coal between Stoke and Marple ceased.[35] There had been some leisure use of the canal since the end of the First World War, with the High Lane Arm acting as a base, where a number of boathouses were built. In 1937, the local authority decided that such buildings should incur rates, and a group of boaters joined together to challenge this. They were unsuccessful, although they did prevent the rates from being backdated for six years, and in 1943, a more formal organisation was formed. The chairman, Harry Downs, who had had many dealings with the North Cheshire Water Board, suggested that it should be called the North Cheshire Cruising Club, and this was agreed. They subsequently rented part of the arm from the LNER.[40] The club is acknowledged to be the first such cruising club to be formed in Britain.[41]

With the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, responsibility for the canal passed to the British Transport Commission. In 1955, a Board of Survey carried out an assessment of the canals, and many in the fledgling waterways movement, including the Inland Waterways Association, expected that the British Transport Commission annual bill for that year would include powers to close many of the canals rated as Class 3 by the Board of Survey. However, with growing public unease at the perceived fate of the canals, no such powers were included in the bill. The canal was visited by Sir Reginald Kerr, the head of British Transport Waterways, and other dignitaries on 27 February 1958, and again by boat on 21 May 1958, when he expressed his intent to ensure that the canals were used by private boaters. There was a risk that the northern end of the canal would be cut off by the closure of the Lower Peak Forest and the Ashton Canal, but vigorous campaigning and a growing restoration movement resulted in the passing of the Transport Act 1968, which effectively assured their future.[42] As part of the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council's Recreational Framework for Britain's Canals initiative, published as a policy document in 1975, Macclesfield Borough Council designated the whole canal as a Conservation Area in June of that year.[43]